Bush to Press:"You're Assuming That You Represent the Public. I Don't

[hangloose]

Accept That."

"In our system, the press has the role of..." Generations of journalists spoke confident sentences like that. The press is a vital check on power. It's quasi-Constitutional. Bush, head of government, rejects this idea. That theory has gone down, he says. And you guys don't have that kind of muscle anymore.


"This article is insightful as it cuts to the chase with respect to the Press and their coverage of the Bush administration. It's a good read." hangloose

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/04/25/bush_muscle.html

[LynnTheDem]

1. Now bush is MOCKING the press for being good little bush bootlickers

And will the US Stenomedia continue to be good little bush bootlickers?

Probably.

Good thing the rest of the world's media have integrity. Let the ignorant duped & conned rightwignnut rubes swallow the Stenomedia bullshit; the rest of us still have access to the real world.

[GRLMGC]

3. Pathetic, isn't it?

I'd find it amusing if it wasn't so destructive.

[mattclearing]

18. Whatever. He gives them the respect they deserve.

If they really dug into him God only knows what they'd find.

He just knows what we know: that the individuals who comprise the media are incompetent parrots, no more deserving of Bush's respect than they are of ours.

[okieinpain]

19. they have no choice, they are own by the corporations. they

want to continue to enjoy their vacations in thailand.

[charlyvi]

2. I thought the Press was supposed to

represent the truth...not public opinion or administration opinoin. They used to be fact-finders, not toadys.

[eleny]

4. He's a hairball in the craw of our nation

[dweller]

5. the *moron assumes he represents the will of the people

and i don't accept that.

dp

[rman]

6. 2nd thing Bush said that i agree on

the other thing was when he said he's trying to "condition" the press (re "don't try to get me to negotiate with myself")

[Disturbed]

7. GW Bush is Silverspoon Sociopath.

I feel that he will find out soon that he has been used by
the Neo Fascists and Multi-Corps because when he starts screwing up and shitting in their nest they will freeze him out or find a way to assasinate him. He has delusion of granduer and is insulated to criticism. When he starts strutting and preening and pushing his silly notions the people that set him up will tear him down.

[rman]

9. i think his handlers think he can get away with saying such things

part hubris, part ploy to pre-emptively discredit accusation of that kind by critics.

if the president openly says he's manipulating the press and that the press doesn't represent the people, then what can be wrong with it?
certainly his base won't think much of it.

[CBHagman]

10. Silver spoon sociopath? Captures him exactly.

May I borrow that phrase? A friend of mine designs anti-Bush posters and stickers, not for profit. I think she'd like that phrase.

[hangloose]

12. I agree with you at the point he becomes to much of a liability

they will find a way to excise him, with extreme prejudice.

[Lostnote03]

13. "Silverspoon Sociopath"....damn, that is quite accurate!!!!...n/t

[Raiden]

20. Agreed! I'm gonna borrow it

"silverspoon sociopath" LOL I love it! :)

It's the most succinct description I've ever heard about Bush, and 100% accurate.





:kick:

[annabanana]

8. He Sh*ts all over the press

Every day. And he pays them to keep taking it. He makes the heads of the networks look like butt boys and they are so stupid and greedy that they get into that ol' "thank you sir, may I have another?" posture.

We should be laughing at them LOUDLY all day, every day.

[gratuitous]

11. Humor is about the last weapon we have

And a powerful weapon it is. The independent press has pretty much passed from the scene, and toadying stenographers are about all we have left. What they hate most is to be taken as anything less than seriously. Cf, Jon Stewart's remarks on Crossfire.

And only the most lickspittle of toadies would accept Stupidhead's pronouncement that asking pertinent questions about his insane policies and decisions is somehow out of bounds:

"Gee, Mr. President Sir, it seems that not quite everything is exactly beer and skittles in Iraq."

"What do you know? You don't represent any opinion or person that I'm bound to acknowledge or respect. Iraq's going great, just write that."

"Right-o sir! Is 24 point type big enough, or do you prefer the 'banner' proportions of 30 or even 36 point?"

"Shut up."

"Shutting up, sir."

[kentuck]

14. This is interesting because it sets up two separate presses..

One is for the betterment of the conservative political movement and is nothing but pure propaganda. The other is a toothless corporate media that does not know how to deal with it. For example, if they say that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, within minutes Dick Cheney and others will come forward on the "propaganda" systems to dispute their "facts". Facts are fungible to George Bush and the present renegades running our government.

[annabanana]

15. the "facts" are just another color

in the neocon paintbox..to be used or not, as the need dictates.

[Supersedeas]

17. Yet, a pattern that a more courageous MSM could point out...they don't

[NoFederales]

16. Worse

Those of us who try to write to our local papers, journals, etc. are virtually locked out by the prejudice that sways Editors these days.

I get so angry with the mockery of the press, and now to have the MF pResident mock those, who mock others, who. . . .JFC!!!!

Hangloose, you touched a raw nerve, and I don't have too many left that function very well. I appreciate the headsup, though.

NoFederales

[Cats Against Frist]

21. What's interesting to me about this is that

the idea isn't necessarily to remove a "liberal press," it's to remove an actor that claims any "objectivity," all together. They don't want an objective press, (even if the press could be objective) they simply want varying degrees of subjectivity and opinion to dislodge "reality," because most of history, science and American political thought run contrary to their fantasy existence.

Remember -- on the higher level -- the notion of "objectivity" is part of modernity. These people believe that modernity is bad, because 1. It takes away from God, and 2. It lessens the ability for people to claim noble birthright, superiority according to race or culture, or anything else superstitious and arbitrary that the right wing believes to be true and 3. it defies the notion of sex roles, which is very important to male superiority and patriarchal rule.

It is said that all battles are not between the people, but the intellectuals of any given societal conflict. It is the truth -- Bush is but an actor, a profiteer in some sense. To the complete obliviousness of the average freeptard, he or she is being controlled and "messaged" by the intellectual right-wing, which includes the Catholic hard right and outfits such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage foundation (people often identify Cato with this group, but truthfully, Cato and Mises are goddamn Marxists compared to the other groups -- the central difference being libertarianism v. authoritarianism and colonialism), all the while being convinced that it is only the liberals who look down on them from Ivory towers. The right quite readily identifies and takes stock of their plebs (Free Republic), and uses their numbers and their reactionary tendencies and totalitarian mindsets to further the goals of the nobility -- and YES this would be the same notion of nobility that ruled the very country that we revolted AGAINST to form the United States (commingling with the Dominionist narrative of God "blessing the rich with plenty" and that those who are rich are "deserving" is also a perfect combinatory narrative to accompany this).

Remember the Suskind article where the Bush aide claimed that they are "history's actors" and basically that the age of empiricism and enlightenment had run its course -- that is EXACTLY what he meant. Those we are fighting against, to the complete ignorance of the DLC, the DNC and the Republican appeasers, is the true goal -- and the attempt to basically "assasinate" Dan Rather, IMHO will be seen as roughly the shot heard round the world, comparable to Paul Revere or Archduke Ferdinand lore -- it was the moment the right scored, in some sense, it's largest political victory -- even larger than the re-election of the Turd-in-Chief. It was the moment they killed modernity.

Bet on it.

[hangloose]

22. Brilliant assessment of the beast!!